Frankenchrist Trial Ends In Hung Jury

(Jeffrey Ressner, Rolling Stone - October 1987)

The two-week trial of former Dead Kennedys vocalist Jello
Biafra ended on August 27th in a victory for the singer when a Los Angeles
jury was unable to reach a verdict. Biafra and Michael Bonanno, the former
manager of Biafra's record label, Alternative Tentacles, were charged with
distributing harmful matter to a minor. It was apparently the first court case
to scrutinize the contents of a rock album. The jurors deliberated a little
more than a day before declaring themselves stalemated, causing the judge to
declare a mistrial and throw out the case. The charges followed a consumer
complaint about a poster of disembodied sex organs included in the Dead
Kennedys' 1985 album Frankenchrist.

The insert was reproduced from a painting by
artist H.R. Giger called "Penis Landscape". The singer's defense was that the
poster was both a liters and a figurative illustration of "people screwing
each other over" and therefore an integral element of the entire LP's concept,
which featured songs about political corruption, unemployment, racism and
poverty.

The prosecutor, deputy city attorney Micheal
Guarino, termed the inclusion of the poster "absolutely irresponsible." During
the trial, Guarino even compared Giger to Richard Ramirez, the suspected
"night stalker" serial killer.

Despite the charges - which could have netted
the singer a year in jail and a $2000 fine if he had been convicted - the mood
at the trial was anything but somber. During several key moments of testimony,
howling screams from child custody battles in the next room reverberated
through the court. Young Dead Kennedys fans piled into the viewing area
daily, sporting black leather jackets, biker boots and buzz-cut hair styles.
And on the final day in court, a defense lawyer took a picture of Guarino with
a phony camera that had a pop-out penis.

Following the dismissal of the charges, a
jubilant Biafra let out a scream of joy, then autographed copies of the poster
and album for the jurors.
Continued on next page.